Kwabena A-Manager, Author at TalkAfrique

February 6, 2011February 8, 2011

Engineering Economics of Obesity and Why Developing Countries Should Be Concerned

The health consequences of obesity such as diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension and some forms of cancer are well known but the engineering design headaches are often overlooked. In the developed nations, there are always provisions to re-engineer or refurbish existing infrastructure to accommodate the increasing weight of the population. Developing countries are not so lucky to have such luxury. In this short article, I will be highlighting a few areas where excess flesh is making re-engineering a necessity and why developing countries should be concerned.

Ambulance Services: Last week it was reported that ambulance services in the United Kingdom are refurbishing their convoy in order to conveniently handle heavier patients.

Airlines: In the US, some airlines, including Southwest, are instituting severe policies towards bulkier passengers. These include charging such passengers for the ‘excess’ weight. The additional fee is meant to enable the airline offer comfortable seating to all passengers and prepare for the additional efforts that may be needed to manage heavier passengers in the case of an emergency evacuation.

The Movie Theater, the Church, and Your Tithe: Surveys shows that today’s movie auditoriums hold half the number of people similar-sized auditoriums held around 1900, about 100 years ago. And what is the reason? Visitors to the auditoriums these days possess bigger bums and so bigger seats are needed to accommodate the extra flesh.

What applies to the movie theater will also hold true for the church auditorium. Much as most Men of God would not be comfortable going over the God-apportioned 10% tithe, the reality is that sooner than later, you will need to give more than 10% help design bigger seats for the same reasons given above.

Sports:

Sports stadiums are not spared the engineering headaches of increasing bums. For instance, the new Wembley stadium in London, which opened in 2007, was equipped with seats that are 9cm wider and 16cm deeper than those at the old Wembley.

These are just a few examples I wanted to highlight in this post.

The reason African countries should be concerned is that obesity is now going global, as we reported here. Obesity used to be seen as a Western epidemic, but urbanization and infiltration of western lifestyle have robbed the populations of African countries of the ‘immunity’ they used to enjoy against obesity. Unfortunately, scarce economic resources and engineering deficiencies make African countries ill-prepared to deal with the challenges that come with increasing body mass.

Therefore, let us overlook the aesthetic of looking thin and appearing on the front cover of Vogue. The economic of going the opposite direction is terrifying, especially for poorer nations.

This is just Food for Thought.

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February 5, 2011May 31, 2011

How Michelle Obama Rendered Two Powerful Men Invisible

A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister of China, Mr. Hu Jintao, visited his counterpart President Barack Obama of the United States. China is a $5 trillion industrial elephant and boasts of the fastest growing military force in the world. The US is the last SuperMan standing. So it’s fair to say that President Obama and Prime Minister Jantao are perhaps the world’s two most powerful men at the time of writing this post.

Anyway, that is the not point of this article. The focus of this article is the state dinner that was held in the honor of Mr. Jantao. And again, this article is not about the Chef or the menu. It’s about Michelle Obama.

As I watched the pictures that came out of the dinner, I was surprised by how one woman’s dress could render the two most powerful men on planet almost invisible. Looking at the picture below, the only person I see is Michelle Obama, with everybody else desperately struggling for space to appear in the photograph. Or is it just me?

I don’t know what the folks from the fashion cognoscenti will say about it, but I kind of like the color and asymmetrical neckline.

And why did I digress from malaria, a disease that kills a child every 30-45 seconds, and HIV, which affects over 22 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, to write on Mrs. Obama’s dress, you may ask? In fact, I am asking the same question. I just couldn’t resist writing down what I observed as I watched the pictures.

How does one woman subject the world’s most powerful duo to a virtual invisibility or non-existence?

Thanks for reading.

January 31, 2011April 21, 2011

The Didier Drogba’s Tragedy: Why Mosquitoes Suck

Didier Drogba is a household name around the world. In Ivory Coast, he is regarded as superman; perhaps more respected than either Laurent Gbagbo or Alassane Ouattara. In England he is revered. On the internet, he is a source of traffic. Globally, 550,000 people search the name “Drogba” on Google each month; 60,000 searches in the US, 74,000 searches in the United Kingdom where he is based. Last year, the no-nonsense Ivory Coast striker scored 37 goals in all competitions for his English club, Chelsea FC. His side won the English Premiership League title for 2010.

But Drogba had a nasty interaction with a well-known insect in the fall of 2010 and since then the hitman has never been the same. He was bitten by a mosquito and contracted malaria, a disease that afflicts up to 400 million people worldwide each year.

The economic consequences of Drogba’s malaria are widespread. This year the Ivorian has netted only 10 goals for Chelsea. To recap, the Drogba scored 37 goals last season, even after missing about three weeks due to the African Cup of Nations (ANC) in Angola and several other games due to injury. The striker’s fiery supremacy is shattered. Goalkeepers do not seem to worry much about Drogba’s strikes this season as they did last year.

Malaria’s impact on Africa is enormous. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a child dies from malaria every 30-40 seconds. Premature deaths and sagging national productivity are often the offspring of a tiny mosquito’s assault. In college, I wrote my final chemistry examination at the University Hospital, Legon, with a policeman standing behind my shoulders just in case I made any attempt to cheat. I was under a severe malaria attack, shivering like crazy. I’m lucky to be alive. Drogba is alive and I’m 100% sure he will make a come-back in a big way. Hundreds of thousands of children, men and women, aren’t always as lucky as I was. By the time I finish writing this piece, a handful more children will be gone due to malaria.

I cannot say that Didier Drogba’s performance this season can be fully attributed to the malaria he contracted; in any case, the contribution would be significant. Could you just imagine how many children will never accomplish their dreams in life as a result of a disease that I, still, believe is preventable and eradicable?

It is time to show malaria the Red Card. Each one of us can help.

By the way, do you know that if you follow a link from TalkAfrique to buy anything at Amazon, Amazon will give up to 2% of your of payment to supports TalkAfrique’s anti-malaria initiative? If you would like to help please CLICK HERE Amazon

January 28, 2011January 31, 2011

Egypt Calls for Freedom, Day 6: Update Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 9.00 am

Jan 30, 2011, 9.00 am
Today is Day 6, and as expected, protesters have taken over the center of the Egyptian capital Cairo in demonstrations against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

The police have largely disappeared from the streets but there is a heavy military presence in the city, even though soldiers are not intervening in the situation.

The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera which was covering the event has been halted. The Egyptian government had earlier ordered the Arabic TV channel, which has been showing blanket coverage of the protests, to shut down its operations in the country.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said
A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

What are we witnessing?

Jan 29, 2011, 11.30 am

The Egyptian President for nearly 30 years, Mr. Hosni Mubarak, 83, has started appointing a new cabinet for his new government after Egyptian government resigned this morning. So far, appointments made do not show any hope for a change. My. Mubarak is picking and choosing from his comfort zone. He is not in a hurry to reach to read out to the other side. The 83 year-old 3-decades president himself has not shown any indication he will step down.

He has been president for almost 30 years. For most of the protesters, Mubarak is the only leader they have known their entire life.

Any system which promotes the dictatorship of the few privileged instead of the initiative of the millions can never produce a happier and fulfilled people. Mr. Mubarak, as well as others like Mugabe, should know that their systems in essence imprison their people.

There will be freedom.

Jan 29, 2011, 10.15 am

The ancient Greek historian Thucydides once said “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.”

This is exactly what is happening in North Africa right now. I’m watching CNN as I write this and I can hear protesters chant ‘Change, Freedom, Mubarak Go” and other anti-government slogans. My heart is in Egypt. I would be on the street if I lived in Egypt.

Happiness in life is an inner desire of the soul. As Thucydides said you cannot acquire this essential ingredient in life in the absence of freedom, and freedom won’t come before courage.

From the Sahara to the West Coast, and to the Southern belt, the African people need to demand for freedom. Let the ordinary people pioneer this movement. I’m glad that this time it is people like me, and not the military, who are calling for change.

There will be freedom on Our Land, in Uganda and in Zimbabwe

Jan 29, 2011, 7.30 am

The Egyptian protests continue today. In fact I would be disappointed if it wasn’t so. For the past three decades, Egypt has been about one person, Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, 83, just as Zimbabwe has all been about the 87 year old Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Mubarak’s cabinet resigned this morning but this does not make any difference; Mubarak stays on. Mubarak is the face of Egypt and he should just respect the will of the people. If Mubarak stays on, it will continue to make the situation worse. There is hope on the streets of Cairo that perhaps this could bring about the freedom people have dreamed of for decades.

The book of Proverbs says that ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick’. It’s for this reason that I believe Mubarak must respect the cry in the hearts of the Egyptian youth.

This revolution was overdue. The combustible material was in stock, it just needed someone to trigger the spark.

There will be freedom at last. In Tunisia, in Egypt and in Zimbabwe

Jan 28, 2011, 9.30 pm

The Egyptian protest continued today. The police were shut up and were replaced by the army to help bring order into the streets of Cairo. President Mubarak eventually came out to address the country.

If my ears were not deceiving me, as I watched the revolution, what the protesters were calling for was for Mubarak to step down. The 30 year old dictatorial regime leader rather promised he was going to dissolve the government on Saturday and form a new government. And who will be the president of the new government? President Mubarak. Nothing could be more annoying, more frustrating, and more depressing.

I wish the Egyptian protesters the best I can think of.

We shall be free, one day. May be very soon

Jan 28, 2011 10.30 am

Islamic States in North Africa are on fire. It started with the uprising in Tunisia which was successful in toppling the Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Is this the beginning of the new African revolution? It’s exciting time in the North. Perhaps this is the only way we can get rid of tyrants in Africa. I personally prefer the youth fighting for their country than a military regime taking over governance through a coup d’état. Unfortunately there will be casualties: about 78 are reported killed in Tunisia already. But in human history, freedom has never been won without blood. I wish it wasn’t so.

There is a deep seated desire in the human spirit for freedom and sense of dignity, which most African states have not yet experiences. Egypt, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have been held hostage by dictators for decades. “Enough is enough. We have had enough”, this is what the North African protesters are telling their governments.

These countries have one thing in common: They face a lot of challenges, such as high unemployment. Young people who have gone to college in recent years expect a lifestyle that the current political regime is incapable of providing and doesn’t seem to care enough about.

We must hail and pay tribute to the Tunisian youth their successful uprising which sowed the seed for the new African revolution. They showed a way for other African countries to take similar action and tell their long-reigned tyrants that enough is enough.

All eyes are on Egypt now. And as Egypt goes, so……………….

January 26, 2011January 31, 2011

I Was Shocked When I Was Told I Have HIV

“I was shocked when the results came back positive”

That was a quote from an interview with Elizabeth Matambanadzo, 18, from Zimbabwe, who is living with HIV. My hope is that, this will help all of us to become more accepting of people living with the HIV condition.

In most of our societies, it is commonly assumed that the person living with HIV or AIDS is just paying the price for his or her promiscuous lifestyle. The truth is there millions of people living with HIV for no fault of theirs. And there are millions more who have HIV for doing the same thing you and I do daily. Is it not time that we accept them as people and not just as ‘deserving patients ”?

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon once said:

“Stigma remains the single most important barrier to public action. It is a main reason why too many people are afraid to see a doctor to determine whether they have the disease, or to seek treatment if so. It helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social disgrace of speaking about it, or taking easily available precautions. Stigma is a chief reason why the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate societies around the world.”

Let Elizabeth continue:

“My mother passed away when I was five and my father when I was 10. I have been staying with my grandmother since then. I tested HIV positive in 2008 when I was 16 after being sick for a long time. I developed sores all over my body that wouldn’t heal even after taking medicine. My grandmother and I were always in and out of hospital. I missed a lot of school. At first doctors thought I had diabetes since the sores were not healing.

“After the diabetes test came back negative the doctor recommended an HIV test. At first my grandmother was against the idea but after some time she agreed. I was shocked when the result came back positive because I had never had sex. My grandmother cried too, she was very sad but the doctor explained that I may have been born HIV positive. I was very angry and blamed my parents for giving me this disease. I was immediately put on antiretroviral drugs [ARVs] and my sores healed… I feel very strong and healthy… all I want is to continue helping other people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in my community.”

It is as difficult to fight the stigma and stereotypes associated as it is to fight the virus. I plan to write on the evil of stigmatization and its social consequences soon. Please check back

Thanks for reading and please pass it on.

January 25, 2011

Pleasure in Power: Politically Motivated Rape in Zimbabwe

A report from a study vividly describes politically motivated sexual violence against women in Zimbabwe. The violence against the women takes many forms including

extreme violence,
gang rape and
insertion of objects (bottles and sticks) into the vagina.

The aim of the study was to provide a valid and reliable description of cases of politically motivated rape and other violence against women in the African country. It is the first vivid description to come out of Zimbabwe detailing instances of politically motivated rape

Over three-quarters of the women studied were victims of multiple rape, with an average of three rapists per incident. One woman reported a total of 13 perpetrators, and 14 women reported 3 or more perpetrators to their rape. One woman reported 3 separate rape incidences in June 2008 by a total of 13 perpetrators.

Women in the study exhibited high levels of sleeplessness, nightmares, flashbacks, and hopelessness. A third of the women reported these symptoms, which are commonly associated with experiences of trauma. For some, flashbacks are triggered by large gatherings, particularly where political slogans were being chanted while others had recurring nightmares during which they relived the rapes. Traumatic memories may continue for extended periods of time.

The entire report is available here.

January 15, 2011April 1, 2011

Show Us The Women of Power

African movies should portray the 'Black Woman of Power'

I have written a few articles about unfair stereotypes normally associate with Africa and things from Africa. To be fair to the outside world, African cultures play a major role in establishing some of these formulaic conceptions.

One thing that easily comes to mind, and which worries me, is the pigeonhole role normally offered to the woman in most African movies. It has been a while since I saw an Africa film but the few that I can recollect had the same theme in all of them. The woman was for the most part depicted as the witch, the bitch, the maid, the weak, the evil, the cheated, the abused and others you can think of. ‘Role model’ roles were few, if any.

Has this changed? If it has, then please, pardon me. If it has not, then it has to change and it has to change fast. Our young girls will be grateful to us if we do.

Media construct our culture, and the media we use to communicate with one another shapes our perception of reality. When young girls see women in movies or read about them in books, they regard these women as lucky individuals, role models, celebrities in today’s slang. In response, they try to be carbon copies of these flattered, lucky individuals. They therefore begin to model what they see. What we show them is possible is what they grow up expecting to accomplish.

African women are the most hardworking among women. They are strong, resilient, and they never quit. It is summed up in the old Nigerian song “Sweet Mother’

It about time we saw the African woman portrayed as an educated entrepreneur, skillful international diplomat and a war hero. After all, what comes to mind when we think of Yaa Asantewaa?

It is just fair that the women play the ‘other roles’ too. Isn’t it?

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